Northern Ireland

Gardaí arrest PSNI officer outside Garth Brooks concert

Hundreds of thousands attending Garth Brooks gigs, few arrests, including only one recorded of a female
Hundreds of thousands attending Garth Brooks gigs, few arrests, including only one recorded of a female Hundreds of thousands attending Garth Brooks gigs, few arrests, including only one recorded of a female

The PSNI was informed of an incident involving one of its officer at a Garth Brooks concert at Croke Park.

Gardai informed the force’s Professional Standards Department of the incident, according to a short statement from the PSNI.

In a statement, Garda HQ in Dublin said: "Gardaí arrested a woman (40s) in relation to public order offences at Foster Terrace, Ballybough, Dublin 3, on the 10th September 2022

"She was taken to Mountjoy Garda Station where she was detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984. She was later released following the issuing of an adult caution. No further information is available." Foster Terrace is adjacent to Croke Park.

It is understood this was the only arrest recorded of a female around the Garth Brooks concerts.

An adult caution is issued as an “alternative to prosecution where there is evidence that the person has committed the offence and where the prosecution of such an offence is not in the public interest.”

Further, the individual is deemed unlikely to re-offend by the investigating garda. An adult caution is not included in Garda vetting records or certificates.

In its statement, the PSNI said: “An Garda Síochána have informed the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Professional Standards Department of an incident involving a serving officer in Dublin at the weekend. There are no further details at this this time.”

Garth Brooks played the last of five gigs at Croke Park on Saturday.

An estimated 400,000 people, equivalent to near six percent of the island’s population, attended the concerts, including tens of thousands from the north.

Despite the extraordinary number of people attending, there were relatively few arrests recorded.

They included Gary Doyle, 27, of Kinallen Road, Ballyward, Castlewellan, who appeared before Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court on a charge of assault on a garda.

The court heard the injured party suffered a broken nose during the alleged assault. But his defence solicitor told the court Doyle “at all times maintained his innocence”.

The court heard his client was “a designated driver” for a group who travelled to Dublin for the gig last Saturday and that he “was sober at all times”.

CCTV evidence will show Mr Doyle was “not the assailant”, his defence solicitor told the court.

There was at least one other arrest of an individual from the north on Saturday night, in custody at the same time the female was detained, from around 11.30pm.

The man was at first arrested on suspicion of assault but later charged with being drunk and disorderly before being released in the early hours of Sunday morning pending a later court appearance.

Associates of this individual were told there was a commotion at the time of his detention, in a neighbouring cell.

A female was released around 2pm, left the station but then returned. There was then a short dispute over a watch before she and a friend exited, according to the associates.